First Austin GDC sessions announced

Details on the session line-up for this year's Austin GDC are starting to emerge, with five online-flavoured sessions announced by GameSetWatch.

Damion Schubert, BioWare Austin's lead combat designer, will present a talk on designing high-level content for MMOs, and Cryptic Studios director of publishing Grant Wei will helm a session called "Engaging Customer Service - an MMO perspective".

Nexon America's Min Kim will give a wide-ranging, beginner-friendly talk on the development process of a free-to-play MMO using the experience of building MapleStory, while Flying Lab's development director Joe Ludwig will provide a 'post-partum' on its recently launched MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Rounding off the talks, comScore's Edward Hunter will talk on the online gaming demographic and its movements, while Patrica Pizer, senior designer at Disney Interactive, will show how the core beliefs that shaped the construction of Disneyland have influenced the creation of Disney Interactive's DGamer online world.

The Austin GDC 08 takes place from September 15th to 17th. More information can be found at the event's official website.